


Can Anybody Find Me Somebody To Love?

by Luthien



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Community: lewis_challenge, Drabble, Drabble Sequence, International Fanworks Day, International Fanworks Day 2015, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 06:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3370685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luthien/pseuds/Luthien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>See the title. A sequence of seven drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can Anybody Find Me Somebody To Love?

**Author's Note:**

> This work also features Lewis/Hobson, since that's where the canon is at the start.
> 
> Written for the Lewis Roulette challenge on [Lewis Challenge](http://lewis-challenge.livejournal.com/). Prompt: 20 Red, Somebody to Love by Queen.

**Can**

Lewis is quite capable of letting go. He's done it before; let go of Oxford after Val died. Let go of the job entirely, last time, when he retired.

Now he needs to let go again. Laura's waiting in California. Lewis wouldn't hear of her turning down the offer of work exchange. He'd finish up his contract here and then he'd join her, he'd said. Months ago.

And now it's time.

He's never let go of Hathaway before. Not really. Last time he left, Hathaway left too. This time Hathaway's still here.

Lewis _can_ let go, and he will. Soon.

 

**Anybody**

“I need someone to chase the paperwork trail down to London and Maddox is off sick. I don't have anybody.” Hathaway tries not to sound annoyed. He resists the urge for a cigarette.

“Am I not anybody?” Lewis asks.

“You won't be here tomorrow. Remember?” Hathaway says tightly. He was doing fine before Innocent foisted Lewis on him; he'll be fine again once Lewis is gone.

“Maybe I'll still be here.” Lewis clears his throat. “Plans change.” It sounds like more than a “maybe”.

Hathaway looks quickly away and fumbles in his pocket for a cigarette.

 

**Find**

Lewis can't find the words. None for Laura, beyond telling her what he's doing – or, rather, not doing. He can't find any words that are of use in explaining why.

He could say that Innocent needs him, and it would be true. She always needs more officers.

He could say that Maddox needs him, and that would be true too. She needs Lewis to act as interpreter between her and Hathaway.

He could say that Hathaway needs him, but the reasons why are a tangle of things unspoken.

Maybe if he stays long enough he'll find the right words.

 

**Me**

Hathaway’s not good at thinking about himself. Back in the seminary, and even before then, the emphasis was always on putting others first. If you thought about yourself at all, it was to look for faults.

At least, that was always Hathaway’s way.

Now, the job comes first. He knows that goes for Lewis, too. He’s still here after all, while Laura waits in America. Maybe she won’t wait much longer.

Hathaway is even less good at talking about himself, so he doesn’t voice the question: did you do it for the job or did you do it for me?

 

**Somebody**

“Somebody call an ambulance!” It’s Maddox who shouts it as she starts to run. Lewis just stands there, frozen for an aeon. Then his legs start moving, carrying the rest of him across the road and down the embankment. He gets there before Maddox does.

Hathaway’s car sits there, the front of it crumpled against a tree, and behind the wheel…

The ambulance siren screams in the distance.

“Is there somebody to go with him?” asks an ambulance officer a short time later.

“Me,” Lewis says, already climbing in.

“Me?” Hathaway croaks.

“Who else?” says Lewis, and takes his hand.

 

**To**

Lewis has to write the e-mail. Laura deserves some warning before he calls her, even if she must have a pretty good idea of where they’ve been headed for a while now.

He starts typing her email address after “to”, and the computer inserts the rest. And now for the message itself.

He stares at the empty page a while before he gets up and makes a cup of tea. The tea’s gone cold and the page is still empty when an email arrives. It’s from Laura, to him.

He knows she’s not coming back even before he reads it.

 

**Love?**

“This is a hospital. You can’t smoke in here,” Lewis admonishes.

“What are they going to do? Throw me out?” Hathaway says. He doesn’t actually light the cigarette, though. Just looks at it longingly as he rolls it between his fingers.

“You’ll be out soon in any case.”

“And what about you? Where will you be?” The question's sharp, but the look in Hathaway’s eyes isn’t.

“I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.” Lewis clears his throat. “If that’s what you want.”

This time it’s Hathaway who takes Lewis’s hand. It feels like a circle closing, finally complete and whole.


End file.
